Oniisan
by SawyerRaleigh
Summary: X universe Seishirou has a brief encounter with TRC universe Fuuma.


Seishirou took a long drag on the cigarette, reclining back against the park bench, glad the kill was over. It was such a peaceful feeling, sitting here watching the blood soak into the ground as the cherry blossoms grew more vibrant.

He exhaled the smoke slowly, leaning his head back to watch it dissipate before the stars. He smiled as he recognized the Pleiades.

Then he noticed that somewhat in the distance the sky had developed a strange, watery look to it, distorting until it began to fall in blobby droplets like paint. One large drop fell, resembling something heavy caught in an opaque net, then burst to reveal a kneeling figure.

Seishirou blinked a few times. Certainly he had been putting in a lot of hours lately but he surely had not gotten so little rest that he was beginning to hallucinate. And falling asleep on the job was never ever an option to him, not that it would be easy to do anyway, so he could rule that idea out.

The tree politely suggested that perhaps he was going insane and he gave it a pointed look, indicating full well what he thought of having his sanity questioned by a vampiric plant.

"Onii-san?" The figure had pulled itself to its feet and was now walking toward him.

_Dinner?_ The tree called back jokingly, even though the odds of the person being able to hear it were slim to none.

"It's been a while since we've been in the same world, how are you-" The figure stepped into the light of a streetlamp a few feet away and froze.

Ah it was that kid, Fuuma. But who did he think he was talking to?

He stared at Seishirou for a moment then cracked up.

Seishirou raised an eyebrow.

_I take it back, I think he's the one who's going insane._ The tree suggested.

"Oops…" Fuuma chuckled. "Wrong Seishirou, sorry. Ah well, at least I ran into you and not your younger brother."

"Younger brother?" Seishirou frowned. Now that he looked a bit closer, this was not the same kid that had taken charge of the Dragons of Earth. He was taller, a little more filled out. Older, he realized. Although the hair was the same, the face was the same, the eyes, the mocking grin, the voice, the reckless attitude…

"Yeah." Not-Fuuma paused. "Wait, you have a younger brother right? One who looks just like me?" He pointed at himself as if Seishirou couldn't have figured out who he was referring to.

"I have no siblings." He replied flatly, wondering if this was some sort of bizarre joke.

"Eh? Really?" Not-Fuuma stepped closer. "Wait, I could have sworn… what's your name?"

Seishirou tensed then gave him a slick smile. "Don't you think you should give me your name first?"

The young man shrugged. "I'm Fuuma."

_Is he an impersonator? _The tree whispered. _Is the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth so popular now that he's become like Elvis? I guess he has the right attitude for it and sometimes even the right sense of style but does he do that whole hip-shaking thing too?_

Seishirou rolled his eyes and ignored the tree. "My name is Seishirou."

"Aha, I thought so." Fuuma smiled brightly at him. "In the place that I come from, I have an older brother named Seishirou. Or rather, in that place, you're my brother. Well… Okay, let me back up here."

Seishirou shook his head slightly, wondering if he was hearing all of this correctly.

"Okay so have you heard of, or maybe even been to parallel universes?"

"There are theories here that other dimensions might exist, yes."

"Oh they're still theories here? Okay well, guess what!" Fuuma threw his hands up in the air as if to say "tada". "They do exist!"

Seishirou examined him over the tops of his glasses.

"And I'm from one of them!" He paused, looking like he expected applause at this big reveal. When Seishirou merely crossed his arms, staring at him, he continued. "Anyway, so some people are duplicated across dimensions, so it's possible that if you travel from one to the next that you might run into yourself. However, the more powerful a person is, the fewer times they get duplicated." He rubbed the back of his neck a little shyly. "Not to toot my own horn or nothing but I'm one of those people, and so is my older brother. So I haven't run into myself or a duplicate of him before."

Seishirou decided he'd accept the story for now. It seemed as likely as anything else he could come up with at the moment. "Until now?"

"Right."

"And I take it I'm a duplicate of your older brother?"

"Exactly." Fuuma tilted his head slightly like was trying to get a look at him from a different angle. "Although you look older than him. And he doesn't always wear glasses."

"Does this intriguing little tale have a point?" Seishirou inquired.

"Oh, I was just going to say hi, thinking you were Onii-chan. Sorry for the confusion!" Fuuma laughed at himself again. "Still. Better that I run into you than myself, like I said."

"Why is that?"

"Well… do you know someone who looks like me and is called 'Fuuma' here too?"

Seishirou cautiously nodded.

"Does he have some sort of unusual ability or powers?"

"Well he's meant to be the destroyer of the world."

Fuuma whistled. "Seriously? Man, pressure much?" He paused. "But… if he had any reason at all to not want to end the world…" He stared at the ground with a bittersweet smile. "Then I would have to accomplish that for him and it would screw up the fate of this world."

Something clicked in the back of Seishirou's mind.

"Wishes… You grant wishes?"

Fuuma laughed. "When you say it that way, it makes me sound like a genie or something."

_Or a hooker._ The tree added.

He wandered over to flop down on the bench beside Seishirou, sprawling over the end of it as he stretched his long legs. "But yeah, sorta. It's not so much just magically making stuff happen. Like if you wished for an elephant right now, I couldn't just wave my hands and one would appear."

"Why the hell would I want an elephant?"

Fuuma laughed again. "You really are just like Onii-san. He always takes everything too seriously too." He stared off into space with a wistful smile and Seishirou was suddenly struck by the realization that the young man was quite fond of his brother… that he missed him.

So _that _was why he was still sitting here talking to him.

"But anyway," Fuuma continued. "Let's say for argument's sake, that you do want an elephant for some reason. I dunno, to impress a girlfriend." He paused then flashed Seishirou a wicked smile. "Or a boyfriend if you're really like Onii-san." He added with a wink. "I could go find you one, preferably in this world, but if not, in another one."

Seishirou had bristled slightly at the boyfriend comment. "So you just get things for people?"

"Right."

"So you're a thief."

"Noooo." Fuuma shook his head with a chuckle before resuming a serious, distant expression. "Everything has a price, and must be paid for in full." He smiled at Seishirou. "A witch with powers kind of like mine taught me that a long long time ago."

"I see."

"No you don't." Fuuma gave him a knowing grin. "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you? But you don't wanna admit it." He laughed. "Onii-san does that too. And I bet you hate being wrong like him too. Not that he often is."

The tree shook its leaves in a quiet laugh.

_Shut up._ He thought silently to it.

_What? He's spot on!_

_Do you want blood for the next few weeks or not?_

The tree fell silent.

"But you…" Fuuma's eyes had suddenly turned intense and appraising. "You have a wish. That must be why I landed here."

Seishirou snorted. "I don't need you to go fetch me anything. I have no need and even if I did, I'd get it myself."

Fuuma shook his head slowly. "Not something material. What you want is information. And it's information you can't get yourself."

Seishirou tensed.

"I have all the information I need to complete my kills." He replied slowly, testing the waters. Could the youth actually know what it was he wanted?

"I'm sure you do." Fuuma answered flatly. He tilted his head. "But you want to know when something happens in the future.

Seishirou nodded. "You know what it is?"

Fuuma nodded back with a grim smile. "Yeah."

"And you can find out?"

"I can. Part of being able to travel through dimensions is being able to travel through times too."

"Everything has a price though, isn't that what you said?"

"Yeah."

"What's the price of this one?"

Fuuma drew his arms off the back of the bench and rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands and leaning forward to prop his chin up on them. It almost appeared as though he were praying for a moment. "In this world, is there someone called Kamui?"

"There is."

"Could you tell me where he is?"

"I suppose I could tell you where he is staying but you see, we sort of need him alive apparently for that whole end of the world business."

Fuuma chuckled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. But I'm not going to hurt him. I'm not even going to talk to him. I just… would like to see him."

Seishirou didn't ask why.

"It's a deal then."

A few weeks passed without any sign of the mysteriously Fuuma-like young man and Seishirou began to believe once more that he must have dreamed the encounter.

Or so he thought until one night he was beneath the sakura tree once more and the iridescent bubble reappeared. The young man didn't say anything for a long time as he joined Seishirou on the bench by the sakura tree once more and Seishirou vaguely wondered if this was what one could call a companionable silence before realizing that not wanting to kill someone did not necessarily qualify them as a "companion".

At long last the boy spoke up, not taking his eyes off of the twisted tree before him.

"November 3rd."

Seishirou stood up and stretched slightly. "Alright. Come on."

Fuuma raised his head and the lamplight caught his glasses, obscuring his eyes behind them. "Where?"

"You said the price for what I wanted was to see Kamui. It's easier to lead you to him than to explain where he is right now."

Fuuma followed silently as they made their way to CLAMP campus, never asking how Seishirou knew exactly where to find him off the top of his head.

And there he was, sitting by a bedroom window, staring out at the stars, completely oblivious to the two pairs of eyes watching him.

"They're twins you know." Fuuma whispered at long last. "Well back where I first met him they were."

"Who are twins?"

"Kamui and Subaru."

"And you and I are brothers? How fitting." Seishirou chuckled softly.

"Yeah. You were always picking on me when we were little, but I looked up to you."

"Did you now?"

"Yeah, but if you ever run into the other you, don't tell him I said that. He has a big enough head as it is."

Seishirou laughed.

A long silence stretched between them again as Fuuma watched the boy drift slowly to sleep, his head settling on his arms folded on the windowsill.

"Did you know?" Fuuma asked finally. "How that is, obviously not when since that's what you needed me to find out for you."

"Of course."

"How long have you known?"

Seishirou chuckled to himself. "Oh about sixteen years give or take a few."

"Hm." Fuuma settled back against the tree trunk. "And you're okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Fuuma smiled at the pocket of his cargo pants. "You really are just like Onii-san, you know. He just takes what's dealt to him too."

"There isn't much else that can be done."

"You really think that?" Fuuma studied him over the tops of his glasses. "You really think there's such a thing as unshakable fate?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"I guess that's always been the difference between you and me then."

Seishirou tilted his head slightly. "Oh? You don't believe in fate?"

Fuuma shook his head. "No, I mean, I know that fate exists. I just… try not to let it get the best of me I guess. Or at least I refuse to take it lying down."

"I suppose that's because you don't particularly like your fate though do you?"

The younger man tilted his head curiously. "Do you like yours?"

Seishirou never got a chance to answer though as an alarm went off in Fuuma's coat pocket and he gave a wistful sigh before bidding the older man farewell and disappearing one again.

Seishirou took a long drag of his cigarette, staring at the spot where his companion had been only moments before.

_It's not a matter of liking or disliking._ He thought to himself and then smiled.

_Novembert 3__rd__._

.

.

_Author's Note: I can't remember if we actually know the exact date that Seishirou was supposed to have died so I took a guess. ^^; I know it was sometime in November…_ _Feel free to correct me if anyone knows if the exact date was ever specified somewhere._


End file.
